NP Vollmann's "Europe Central"

[jd]

Further, I consider Rising Up and Rising Down to be very much akin to
The Anatomy of Melancholy focused on a different subject so I'm much
more willing to tolerate obtuseness, but in both RURD and TRF Vollmann
seems to be trying to attach to a certain style of previous great
authors, wittingly or unwittingly, that gives the appearance that he's
sort of giving up on his own quality and relying on his parallels to
those authors (Burton, Dostoevsky, maybe even Tolstoy to some degree)
to carry his literary stardom.

On 7/3/06, jd <wescac at gmail.com> wrote:
> So, I finished The Royal Family today...  in the back of the book
> Vollmann gives some acknowledgements, mentioning that his editor
> acquiesed to letting him NOT cut a third of the novel.  Damn, I wish
> that editor had stuck to his guns...  the book is overly repetitive
> and Vollmann's asides get a bit on the smarmy side.  I mean it gets so
> monotonous and repetitive that I think my ears bled a little.  A lot
> of the book seemed to be stuff Vollmann just wanted to cram in because
> it was something he experienced / saw while following the prostitutes,
> like a PTSD drone mumbling in the corner about Charlie, that just
> didn't have anything really to do with the story...  And the ending
> was definitely left wanting.  I'd probably give this a three star
> rating...  simply because the beginning was pretty decent and Vollmann
> certainly isn't a SHITTY writer, just maybe one, at least in this
> book, who should have known better when to turn the computer off
> instead of wailing away at tangents and repetition.
>
> That said I'm still interested in Europe Central and I certainly enjoy
> Rising Up and Rising Down (while repetitive, and a lot of it doesn't
> really seem to impart a good knowledge of history and instead sort of
> conveys good sound bytes for general good logic, it works far better
> there and I have a lot of hope for the last two books, which are sort
> of "case studies" it sounds like, and looks to be very interesting).
>
> On 6/26/06, bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Could be.  I hadn't thought of it that way.   I saw that when it's evil vs
> > evil - guess who wins?
> >
> >
> >
> > Bekah
> >
> >
> >
> > At 5:00 PM -0400 6/26/06, B C Johnson wrote:
> > Based on so much of Europe Central as I've read, it seems that anarchy is
> > the outcome of the collapse of Hitler's terror-state, and what comes after
> > is possibly worse:  the routinization of terror, terror as a business,
> > terror as part of one's daily routine.  In this respect, EC thus far reminds
> > me of "The Counterforce" section of GR (albeit with fewer laughs).
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: bekah
> > To: B C Johnson ; ruudsaurins at aol.com ; pynchon-l at waste.org
> > Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 4:38 PM
> > Subject: Re: NP Vollmann's "Europe Central"
> >
> >
> > I see your point but I think it's rather beyond the scope of EC whether or
> > not anarchy is what led to Hitler and Lenin/Stalin.   I've not read any
> > other of Vollmann's books but I've read about them and it seems as though he
> > might just address the issue  of anarchy directly.  Anyone read any other
> > Vollmann?
> >
> >
> > Bekah
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > At 1:57 PM -0400 6/26/06, B C Johnson wrote:
> >
> > To clarify somewhat:  I really meant "Spike Jones", the American musical
> > anarchist.  Where Jones and Pynchon see creative possibilities in anarchy,
> > King Crimson and Vollman see it as a condition precedent to autocratic
> > authoritarianism (or that's my impression).
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> > From: ruudsaurins at aol.com
> >
> > To: bjohnson02 at insightbb.com
> >
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:22 PM
> >
> > Subject: Re: NP Vollmann's "Europe Central"
> >
> >
> >
> > Hoy! Hoy!
> >
> >     As a long time King Crimson devotee, I am curious as to your
> > observation.  I know Spike Lee and Pynchon, I know a little about Vollman
> > (Rising Up/Down), and a lot about King Crimson.  It sounds as if I should
> > try Europe Central sometime before the alleged release of the new Pynchon
> > novel.  Thanx!
> >
> >                                                                      truly,
> >
> >                                                                      ruud
> >
> >
> >  -----Original Message-----
> >  From: B C Johnson <bjohnson02 at insightbb.com>
> >  To: bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>; pynchon-l at waste.org
> >  Sent: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 21:39:35 -0400
> >  Subject: Re: NP Vollmann's "Europe Central"
> >
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> >
> > I'm reading Europe Central and finding it just engrossing. As Pynchon is to
> > Spike Lee, Vollman is to King Crimson. Tip o' the hat to bekka.
> >
> >  bekka wrote:
> >
> >  > You bet it is. One of the best I've read in years by anyone. I think it >
> > could be a successful group read here.
> >  >
> >  > Bekah
> >
> >  ________________________________
> >
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> >
> >
>